Watch the sun’s ‘Great Explosions’

[Jazzy]

A solar filament that had been lurking atop the sun for a week finally exploded earlier this month, continuing a trend of large solar eruptions that NASA scientists say will peak in 2013. This explosion, seen below, released high-energy plasma into the solar system, but did not create auroras on Earth because it dispersed before reaching our atmosphere.



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jciUYQHa6-0&feature=player_embedded[/media]



NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the image sequence, which shows the filament exploding. In August, NASA scientists observed a 28-hour period of shock waves, solar flare explosions, and solar tsunamis that rocked the sun, which they've named The Great Explosion. They say the activity is a sign that the sun is waking up and heading for another solar maximum cycle in 2013, according to Space.



The August 1st event really opened our eyes, NASA scientist Karel Schrijver said. We see that solar storms can be global events, playing out on scales we scarcely imagined before.



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cJhpGGrZfY&feature=player_embedded[/media]



Scientists are still trying to figure out whether and how the massive explosions that occurred so far apart on the sun's surface were connected.



Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101215/ts_yblog_thelookout/watch-the-suns-great-eruption

 

[Jazzy]

I love this kind of stuff and found this awesome!

 

[DrLeftover]

We see that solar storms can be global events, playing out on scales we scarcely imagined before.



But we know enough to predict and influence climate change.

 

[Durandal]

We see that solar storms can be global events, playing out on scales we scarcely imagined before.



But we know enough to predict and influence climate change.

...maybe 'cause we live on Earth, while we don't live on the sun...?

 

[DrLeftover]

Oh, you're right.



The sun has nothing to do with the Earth's climate.

 

[Durandal]

Oh, you're right.



The sun has nothing to do with the Earth's climate.

Um, never said that - just considering we've done a lot more living on and observing of the Earth than of the Sun, we have a bit of an advantage of the overall climate of Earth and the net effects upon it, than we do the Sun.



They're inter-related yes, but just because we know one has effects on the other, doesn't mean we know everything about one of the aspects, and doesn't mean we have to know all of the properties of the one aspect to make conclusions about the other.